The inaugural Global Encryption Day took place on 21 October 2021.
Global Encryption Day was an opportunity for businesses, civil society organizations, technologists, and millions of Internet users worldwide to show their communities why encryption matters to all of us.
End-to-end encryption keeps people, their information, and their communications private and secure. It underpins online trust, protects members of vulnerable communities, and safeguards the data of governments, businesses, and everyday citizens from criminals and hostile governments. But in some parts of the world, encryption is under threat.
Global Encryption Day helped us all to tell governments around the world that protecting and strengthening encryption is crucial to making the Internet safer for everyone.
On Global Encryption Day:
- Over 70 events were held worldwide.
- 168 organizations signed the Global Encryption Day Statement calling on governments and the private sector to reject efforts to undermine encryption.
- 9 companies provided testimonials on why they’re proud to offer end-to-end encrypted services to their customers.
- Over 2.4 million unique visitors visited the Make the Switch campaign website and the Who’s Listening game.
- Thousands of people watched the Global Encryption Day Press Conference.
- Over 140 media articles were published, including CNBC, The Times, TechCrunch, Euractiv and The Next Web.
Find out more about what happened on Global Encryption Day and how you can continue to support the Internet Society’s and the Global Encryption Coalition’s (GEC) advocacy efforts.